Stephen Kenny: Republic of Ireland must still believe in Euro 2024 qualification
Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has told his players to believe they can still qualify for Euro 2024 (Donall Farmer/PA)
Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has told his players they must believe they can still qualify automatically for the Euro 2024 finals until it becomes a mathematical impossibility.
The chances of Ireland making it to next summer’s finals effectively evaporated last month when they were beaten by Group B rivals France and the Netherlands, and even the prospect of a back-door ticket via the play-offs looks unlikely given their Nations League ranking.
However beleaguered boss Kenny, who has come under intense pressure as a result of just a single victory in the opening five qualifiers – and that against minnows Gibraltar – remained defiant as he plotted revenge against Greece, who got the better of his side in Athens in June.
The Republic of Ireland’s qualification hopes were dealt a significant blow by defeats at the hands of France and the Netherlands in September (Donall Farmer/PA)
The manager said: “We want to finish the group strongly. We are still in contention for automatic qualification.
“It’s not in our own hands, we are relying on results elsewhere. We have to see if we can take it to the November window and the only way we can do that is by taking six points from this window.
“It may not be enough, but we’d be kicking ourselves if we didn’t do that and results did happen elsewhere.
“We do our side. We win the games we need to win and that starts with Greece on Friday.”
Greece manager Gus Poyet got the better of opposite number Stephen Kenny in June (Brian Lawless/PA)
Kenny’s desperation to get the better of Greece has been fuelled in part by a perception that opposite number Gus
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